1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the identification of customer purchasing habits and, more specifically, to a system and method of identifying habits through the analysis of transaction attributes.
2. Description of Prior Art
Conventional point-of-sale computer systems, such as those used in retail stores to record transactions, have played limited roles in customer relationship management. The inflexibility of the traditional retail application along with the limited functionality of retail point of sale printers has acted as a limiter to the marketing intentions of retail management.
Attempts to improve point-of-sale marketing typically involve the issuance of promotions, often in the form of coupons, to a customer in the checkout lane. In order to increase the effectiveness of such advertising, systems identify a particular customer through a shopper's club card or other individually distinguishable indicia that is presented to the teller at the time of check out. Once a customer is identified, the system can scan a database of previous purchases made by that customer to identify purchasing habits. Based on these habits, the customer can be issued a coupon, often with the intent of getting the customer to stray from favorite brand names.
Systems such as that described require a secondary system with a secondary printer. This secondary system operates independently of the retail system but is capable of accessing data concerning customer transactions. These systems are the subject of much criticism from retailers, however, that are concerned with the secondary hardware and applications that must reside in their stores. Many retailers also object to granting access to data regarding past purchases of their customers. Along these lines, consumers have expressed concern regarding the privacy of their transactions as many consumers feel that prior purchases are personal business and should not be used by a marketing company to derive profit.
3. Objects and Advantages
It is a principal object and advantage of the present invention to provide a less intrusive manner of marketing to retail customers.
It is an additional object and advantage of the present invention to reduce the point-of-sale hardware and applications needed by retailers.
It is a further object and advantage of the present invention to alleviate the need for a point-of-sale system to retrieve historical customer data in order to target marketing at a particular customer.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will in part be obvious, and in part appear hereinafter.